New Sony Vaio Z speculation/news thread

sony's including a quickboot OS?

 

Maybe, maybe not. Some models that used the "web" button (SA, SB, L) used the quick boot os but its notably absent in the C series. If the new Z doesn't include the quickboot OS then the web button is completely useless. Seriously, why can't Sony understand that people can just pin their browser in the taskbar and click it there instead of having to rely on a physical button?

 

why sony didnt take these useless buttons out and put in some damn real speaker

 

Can anyone confirm that the CTO models come with the backlit keyboard? No mention of this in the web description, whereas it IS explicitly mentioned in the signature editions. I'm wondering if Sony USA has reserved this feature (like premium carbon) exclusively for the higher priced Signature Collection?

 

^ I don't use these buttons at all

 

Sonystyle Japan has the internal battery listed for sale as a separate accessory:
?????? VGP-BPS27????? | ???????????????

But of course to replace it you have to unscrew the 8 screws holding it in place, which seems wholly inconvenient if you intend on swapping out batteries on-the-go or really with any frequency.

 

From US SonyStyle:

 

^ Sony is using customised memory modules

 

if it has no backlit i will return it first day i received it

 

you were honestly expecting something different?

 

Thanks. I did a yen conversion to usd - about $187.00. I wonder if you need a proprietary Sony tool to remove those screws since everything else is proprietary.

 

That and I run a lot of VMs, so I actually do use the RAM... Anyone have any pictures of the premium carbon side by side with the black? Is the difference that noticeable?

 

Looks like there will be some delay...

Google Translate

Original article in Japanese...
http://plusd.itmedia.co.jp/pcuser/articles/1107/15/news042.html

Does anybody know what caused the delay? According to the article, it was related to the lightpeak. Perhaps, there was a last-minite fix and they could not deliver enough parts on time?

 

I tried out the new Z briefly yesterday at the Vaio Expo in Manhattan.

For the first demo, they had the unit connected to the "dock" and powering three or four monitors simultaneously.

That's great although it's not a function I need. It turns out the "dock" is the primary reason I probably won't get a Z even though I wanted to buy the last Z series. Although the "dock" doesn't weigh very much, it's intended to be left in one location, e.g. on your desk. I like having everything in my computer to be self-contained.

That said, the screen is great. The hinge mechansim they boast about in the video seems quite sturdy. When disconnected from the "dock," the Z seems very light, even lighter than my TT. It certainly is thinner since it doesn't have an internal optical drive.

Those on this site who love to take apart computers would have loved the displays of partially disasembled Zs. The unit has two fans and some kind of copper devices to increase cooling. I was asked to put my hand next to the fan on one, said to have been running for nine hours, and it was much cooler than my F1390X.

The memory is not upgradeable. Decide what you want when you buy it and that's it.

They also say that the drive is not upgradeable as well. I looked at the bottom of the unit and did not see any removable "door" or cover that could be opened. While I'm sure that won't stop some people here, the Sony people to whom I talked seemed firm that you cannot change anything.

In other news, I heard a rumor that some kind of successor to the TT is coming in the fall but could not get any more details.

Also, there is a new Signature color of bright fire engine red (for other models, not the Z). I would buy this if it had FDNY on the case.

 

Did you notice if the screen wobbled like the SA/BCD? Not sure if the hinge on the Z2 is engineered the same way.

 

Wrong, they closed the San Diego "factory" last year. Every Z comes from Japan. (As was the case with my Z13)

 

^opening the notebook might be one problem, but the bigger one should be that almost everthing in there is proprietary, hence not user upgradeable. (e.g. swapping in some random SSD won't work).

haha, so true!
not to forget the pause/break button! VERY important stuff!

 

I did not notice that. Then again, it's not like I opened and closed one, ten times.

By the way, before anyone asks, in a hotel conference room with a lot of people, there's way too much noise around to notice how quiet or noisy a given notebook is.

 

As I said, I don't know where the older Z series were manufactured/assembled. However CTO laptops prior to then were assembled in San Diego (but components manufactured in Japan), as was the case with my old (original) S series.

 

is it 3 external? or is it 4 externals? thats a big deal for some people apparently.

 

Well, the HD65xx & above (dedicated GPU only, APU limited to 2) can power, at a minimum, of 5 displays. Just need to be routed properly.

Dunno if that answers your question.

 

^^

You mean at a maximum.

Anyhow, the Z can only power 3 externals. 4 if you include the Z's display itself. All of the promotional videos, designer videos, and live launches all show the Z with 3 external displays.

EDIT:

See this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVL8Q7ZbG3Q

EDIT 2: Deleted photo. Source didn't allow photos to be posted on external websites.

 

Sorry, I was vague in my response. I meant to say that all Z2s will be coming from Japan. =]

 

Was I hallucinating when someone here wrote there was a 5.1 system (with subwoofer?) built in to the Z21? If this is the case, why are the reviews saying the speakers are so terrible?

And about those noise cancelling earphones being included with some mdoels; is this the US or Japan only? I've not seen or heard anything of this in the European market.

There is some marketing blurb on the Sony.co.uk website about the WEB button allowing instant browser access when the Z21 is turned off, so I suppose Sony do have some sort of instant on OS built in there somewhere.

 

No u were not hallucinating jdbrookes
From CNET review
" The 5.1 built-in speakers include a small subwoofer and the overall audio quality is excellent--if you keep in mind this is a small laptop with little room for air-pushing speaker cones. For personal use, it's fine, but immersive gaming or cinephile video watching would be better served with a set of high-end headphones.

"
Not sure about Europe but in Asia Pacific we get this :
Noise Cancelling Headphones (MDR-NC033L2/BM(SET)

 

^lol, so the range is from "excellent" to "worse than phone speakers".

 

My Z1's speakers sound worse than my phone's. And I'm not even using a phone that's marketed in having good speakers (Samsung Galaxy S). I can't expect the Z2's to be any better since it's even thinner (less space), and they're shifted to the bottom.

 

The speakers on my SZ are pretty good, but the speaker (singular) on my X is worse than an electronic birthday card.

I've my order in so I suppose I'll see

 

i suspect that not all of the speakers are on the bottom

for instance, with the macbook pro, the speakers are in the keyboard, i suspect that this, or something similar, is the case with the new z

perhaps the 2 speakers that we've been seeing on the bottom of the laptop are the subwoofers

 

^^
I guess its about time u edited your sig - 2620M instead of 2720"M"

 

There isn't even a 2720m anyway, it's the 2720qm lol.

Back on topic, is it possible to stuff a speaker into an already compressed keyboard? I mean, the Z2's keyboard is already smaller than usual (at least for the key travel).

 

Do you know which dealers, other than sonystyle, get the signature collection?

 

Thanks +rep.

You should have brought a screwdriver set with you, disassemble the PMD in front of the Sony rep, then

Sorry I forgot where I was going with this...

 

Yes, you can.

Uhm.. I don't know what it means by installation media

 

Thanks. I appreciate any updates on the LTE. While I may prefer one color over another, the LTE is a must.

 

Off-topic but since some people are interested, Sony is touting the new tablets on its website.

Tablets

 

Man, I'm finding this a difficult decision.

I just can't shake the feeling that the Z2 is an interim product, and that next year's model will have a proper TB implementation allowing access to other peripherals, eventual GPU upgrades, etc., as well as digital connection support for high resolution monitors. And Z2 owners will be feeling orphaned.

I really love the machine, but at $3k, it's a got to last me a few years.

 

Why exactly wouldn't it last you a few years? What peripherals do you need/want that require more bandwidth than USB 3.0 provides?

 

Sony has pictures of the Blue Z2 on the US site but you can't buy it... I am hoping that it is just a matter of time until all the color options are available. I really don't want to pay $1K+ more to get the color I want from conics.

 

A better guess is that the design of the new Z will be around for years to come. The processor and GPU may get updated next year but the basic design will remain the same. Welcome to the future.

 

^ It would be nice to be able to upgrade the GPU eventually. The Z1 at least supports ViDock. There will probably eventually be ViDock for TB, but I wouldn't bet on that being available for Z2's proprietary LightPeak.

That'd be my main example.

 

Why is that a better guess than mine?

I agree that the light main unit / PMD split is likely here for a while (and I like the basic concept.) But I don't see why Sony would stay with their proprietary LightPeak. We know they went with this design because Intel changed the TB spec mid-stream. Why would Sony want to stick with this connector that's incompatible with all but one device?

Don't get me wrong, if they do, it'll be great for current Z2 owners if it opens the possibility of upgrading just the PMD down the road. But that's a big if.

 

^pretend you are a PC manufacturer for a moment. What would the business case be for including thunderbolt into your PC?

And the reports of intel "changing the spec midstream" are incorrect. It's been designed to support both copper and optical transports since it's inception

 

It depends if Sony thinks its customers would be better served with a mini-DP port rather than a USB 3.0 port.

Sure, the only device that actually uses LightPeak is the PMD; but it's not as if Thunderbolt products (which actually take advantage of the bandwidth) are widely available right now, either.

There's the Pegasus R4 and R6, and a number of upcoming high-end professional video editing equipment, but very very few people will need those.

Far more people will find a spare USB 3.0 port more useful, especially since the whole point of the Z2 is portability. Even if you had a mini-DP Thunderbolt port, you simply aren't going to lug an R6 around with you everywhere you go.

 

^ Surely the business case would be that the computer is more valuable to consumers if more things can be connected to it? Look at all the gnashing of teeth on this forum when it became apparent that TB peripherals would not be usable with Sony's LightPeak connector. And look at how many people are complaining that they can't upgrade the GPU in the PMD or attach a ViDock.

Anyway, I'm not going to beat this to death. We'll see what happens next year, and I'll be following your comments in the 1,000 page Z3 Speculation Thread.

 

^ Yes, with a Thunderbolt port you can connect more TB peripherals. But in doing so you give up a USB 3.0 port, so you can connect fewer USB peripherals. It's not a free meal.

Therefore the real business case is, which is more useful to Z customers: ability to plug in ubiquitous USB peripherals when on the move and also when at home/office via PMD; or ability to plug in TB peripherals when at home/office (potentially including USB 3.0 hubs/adapters) but inability to do much of anything with a TB/mini-DP port when you're out and about (at least not without carrying around USB or other hub/adapter)?

 

^Look at it this way. How many devices have been released for thunderbolt? How many have been released for lightpeak? How many device devices have been released for usb 3.0?

The future. What devices for thunderbolt/lightpeak will be released that are not as effective on usb 3.0?

 

^ I'm assuming monitor or disk array (or some fancy combo daisy chain as Intel showed off last year). But honestly we're not quite there yet are we

 

this, and i think neither USB 3.0 and light peak is a future. what will be the future has to be wireless.

 

Sony Part and service... but you would be much better off getting them with your order, you won't save any money buying proprietary parts later unless they are on ebay from a broken computer or something like that.